There’s usually a story line behind my music; a scenario or character. — Gabriela Lena Frank
Musical America Worldwide has announced today that Gabriela Lena Frank is its 2026 Composer of the Year.
Winner of a Latin Grammy and nominated for Grammys as both composer and pianist, Frank also holds a Guggenheim Fellowship, a USA Artist Fellowship, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work has been described as ‘crafted with unself-conscious mastery’ by The Washington Post, who also cited her as one of the most significant women composers in history.
In 2025, she concluded a long-term residency with the Philadelphia Orchestra, marked by the world premiere of Picaflor: A Future Myth. In 2026, her first opera El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) is staged at both the Metropolitan Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. With a libretto by the Pulitzer-prizewinning playwright Nilo Cruz, The Last Dream of Frida and Diego is one of the most successful American operas of the decade, with acclaimed runs at Los Angeles Opera and San Francisco Opera following its 2022 world premiere at San Diego Opera. Other upcoming premieres include two collaborations with MacArthur Fellow J. Drew Landham; a song cycle for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Ballad of John James Audubon and the Runaway; and a work for the Pacifica Quartet and narrator Sigourney Weaver.
Read more at MusicalAmerica.com. The Musical America Directory, through its online news, publications, and web site, provides connections for those involved in the performing arts community. Among its past composer-of-the-year honorees are John Adams, John Luther Adams, Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, George Crumb, Morton Gould, Lou Harrison, Missy Mazzoli, Kaija Saariaho, Gunther Schuller, Tan Dun, Joan Tower, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
Watch Frank’s interview with Fred Cohn, Features Editor at Musical America Directory:
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